In a convoluted manner, Mick McCarthy was accused of winning ugly. A handsome victory would, in just about any other Premier League season, have already secured safety, Wolverhampton having reached 40 points, two more than they required 12 months ago. "I've just seen Niall Quinn," McCarthy revealed in the wake of a first Wolves victory on Wearside for 18 years. "I think the quote was, 'If any one ugly bastard was going to beat us, I'm glad it was you'."

Having failed to oversee a top‑flight victory at the Stadium of Light in 19 attempts while in charge here, for McCarthy that winning feeling was long overdue. After his side secured back-to-back victories for the first time this season just when it matters most, the only downside was that even with such a decent tally they will go into the final game with their destiny still uncertain.

This comprehensive win against Sunderland at least ensured their fate is in their own hands. A victory at Molineux on Sunday over a Blackburn Rovers side above them on goal difference would secure a third consecutive season in the top flight. Anything less and they must hope for a helping hand elsewhere.

Even if it proves to be against an Old Trafford reserve side, Blackpool's visit to Manchester United already looks like a significant favour from the fixture computer. "With 40 points we'd have got into Europe last season," McCarthy joked. "Of course, the situation makes us nervous, but it's about having that coolness and experience to see games out the way we did."

Once Steven Fletcher, easily outjumping John Mensah to a cross from the substitute Matt Jarvis, had restored the lead with his sixth goal in eight games shortly after the restart, the result was never in doubt. A diving header from George Elokobi provided a late boost to the goal difference that could yet prove crucial.

After shipping the opener to a smart volley from the returning old boy Jody Craddock, Sunderland failed to build on a close-range equaliser from their best player, Stéphane Sèssegnon. The stand‑in forward swept home a corner from Bolo Zenden, the veteran Dutch midfielder who is likely to leave in the summer due to a lack of first-team opportunities.

Steve Bruce, sounding rather like a stuck record, again fell back on the excuse of Sunderland's overpopulated treatment room as the reason for a sixth defeat in seven homes games, and other assorted ills. "No one would envisage this happening to us," he said. "But that's the Premier League, and when I see Arsenal win one out of 10, and Spurs with one win from 13, it just shows you. We'll learn from this, but if you're without seven or eight first-team players and your back four it's like going to war with a pop gun."

The £55m invested in the team by Ellis Short in Bruce's two-year reign is rather less of a pop gun, more of an Arsenal: a hefty amount from the club's owner on which he'll see little return in terms of an improved league placing this season. It is the kind of backing of which McCarthy could only have dreamed during his often turbulent spell in charge on Wearside. He added: "I won the Championship here and got to the Premier League without a pot to piss in, or a window to throw it out of. Then the next season, I was given even less to spend again. I still loved it.

"There was some goodwill towards us today and I think that was because of me. Most people here appreciated the job I did, and if they were going to lose to anyone they'd prefer it to be me. I always thought the season would go right to the last day, and I've been proved right."